Minnesota State Wire

There were 55 deaths with Alzheimer's disease listed as the underlying cause reported in Minnesota during the week ending October 30, a 1.8 percent decrease from the previous week, according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the week ending October 30, there were 1,022 deaths in the state. 14.2 percent of deaths were caused by heart disease, 18.8 percent were from cancer and 26.1 percent were from COVID-19. Additionally, 12.1 percent of deaths were from Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Studies show doctors and medical examiners may underreport Alzheimer's disease and dementia-related conditions as the underlying cause of death on death certificates, according to the National Institute on Aging.

Once infected, older adults with dementia are likely to develop a more severe and dangerous illness. The diseases which make an older adult more vulnerable to COVID-19 are age-associated chronic conditions, according to the Bright Focus Foundation.

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Malignant neoplasms (cancerous tumor)	192	215
Heart disease	145	169
COVID-19 (multiple cause)	140	120
COVID-19 (underlying cause)	127	109
Chronic lower respiratory diseases	60	41
Alzheimer's disease	55	56
Cerebrovascular diseases	43	48
Diabetes mellitus	31	20
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis	14	11
Influenza and pneumonia	< 10	11

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths 2021-10-30	Number of Deaths 2021-10-23
Alzheimer disease and dementia	124	111